Mitbestimmung, Corona und Soziale Klasse

Based on the 3rd and 4th survey rounds of the Workplace Monitor „Arbeiten in der Corona-Krise“ (Working in the Corona Crisis), the article examines how employees experience the handling of the pandemic by their works and staff councils. Overall, the majority of employees are satisfied with the activities undertaken by their works and staff councils during the pandemic. They experience that the works and staff councils listen to their concerns and represent their interests including concerns about the pandemic. At the same time, however, the experience of codetermination also shows clear class inequalities (Oesch): Qualified service workers, routine service workers and routine manual workers are the classes that rate the responsiveness and representativeness of the works and staff councils significantly lower and are less satisfied with their workplace representatives, who are also more strongly affected by the negative consequences of the pandemic. The results are not only of scientific interest, but also of relevance for codetermination practice, since the participation deficits in the codetermination arena seem to reinforce the class inequalities as reflected in the health risks and economic burdens of the pandemic.